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Study Examines Why GLP-1 Users Are Hit With Higher Levels Of Criticism
In A Nutshell
- Researchers ran two experiments testing how strangers judged a fictional person based on their weight history, finding that people who lost weight with a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic were rated more negatively than those who never tried to lose weight at all.
- In the first experiment, GLP-1 users scored lowest on positive personality traits and willingness to socialize, below even the higher-weight person who made no weight loss attempt.
- In the second experiment, people who regained weight after stopping a GLP-1 were judged similarly to those who regained after quitting a diet, but both groups were still rated worse than the person who kept the weight off.
- Taken together, the findings suggest GLP-1 users face social judgment at every stage (losing, regaining, or simply staying heavier) with no clear exit from the stigma cycle.
A person living with obesity decides to try one of the blockbuster new weight loss medications sweeping the country, drops dozens of pounds and ends up being judged more harshly than if they’d never lost the weight at all. That’s exactly what a new pair of experiments found. In the eyes of strangers, losing weight with a GLP-1 drug, the class of medications that includes Ozempic and Mounjaro, didn’t earn people social credit. It cost them.
Published in the International Journal of Obesity, the new research set out to measure something that millions of Americans using these drugs may already sense. A social stigma follows them when the weight comes off and when it comes back. Previous studies have documented the “taking the easy way out” narrative that follows people who use these medications, a perception rooted in the widespread cultural belief that weight loss should require personal suffering and discipline to be considered legitimate.
This work goes further. It directly compares the stigma faced by GLP-1 users against the stigma faced by people who remain at a higher weight and never try to lose it. The result is a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation that the researchers say should concern anyone who cares about the well-being of people managing their weight.
How the Ozempic Stigma Studies Worked
The researchers ran two separate online experiments, recruiting participants from Prolific, a widely used survey platform. The samples were mostly white, tended to be younger, and had relatively high income and educational attainment. In both studies, participants were randomly assigned to read a short description of a fictional person, a 38-year-old college graduate with no gender specified, who had been living with obesity since adolescence and recently weighed around 220 pounds. The detail that changed from group to group was the person’s weight history.
In the first study, which included 607 participants, the fictional person was described as having either lost 35 pounds over the past year by taking a GLP-1 medication, lost the same amount through diet and exercise, or not attempted weight loss at all. After reading the description, participants rated the person on personality traits, both positive (like friendly, intelligent and generous) and negative (like lazy, undisciplined and sloppy). They also rated how willing they’d be to spend time with the person.
The second study, with 706 participants, shifted the focus to weight regain. This time, the fictional person was described as having either regained weight after stopping a GLP-1, regained weight after quitting a diet and exercise plan, never attempted weight loss, or successfully lost weight and kept it off. Participants completed the same evaluations.
Both studies were pre-registered, meaning the researchers publicly committed to their methods and predictions before collecting any data, a practice designed to prevent cherry-picking results after the fact.
People Judged Ozempic Users More Harshly Than Those Who Never Tried to Lose Weight
During the first study, participants who read about the GLP-1 user rated that person significantly lower on positive personality traits and higher on negative traits compared to participants who read about the dieter. Participants also perceived the GLP-1 user as less healthy. Perhaps most surprising, participants were significantly less willing to socialize with the GLP-1 user than with the person who hadn’t lost weight at all. On a seven-point scale measuring willingness to spend time with the person, the GLP-1 user scored an average of 4.99, compared to 5.25 for the person who never attempted weight loss and 5.51 for the dieter. All three groups were statistically different from one another.
Losing weight with medication didn’t just fail to erase the social penalty of being heavier. It actually made things worse. The researchers had predicted the opposite: that a person who remained at a higher weight would be judged most negatively. Instead, the GLP-1 user landed at the bottom of the social ladder.
The second study told a somewhat different but equally sobering story. When it came to regaining weight, the two regain groups (those who stopped a GLP-1 and those who abandoned a diet and exercise routine) were judged similarly to each other. But the GLP-1 regain group was still rated lower on positive personality traits than the person who never attempted weight loss at all, suggesting that even when the drug isn’t the deciding factor, having used it and then regained carries its own social cost.
The person who successfully kept the weight off, meanwhile, was rated most favorably across the board. The researchers note that this reinforces a harsh social reality: carrying a higher weight is heavily stigmatized regardless of whether a person has tried to lose it.
A No-Win Situation for GLP-1 Users
The timing of this research matters. Millions of Americans have turned to GLP-1 medications in recent years, and many may soon be forced to stop taking them. Insurance coverage for these drugs is limited and shifting, out-of-pocket costs can exceed $1,200 per month at list price, and access to cheaper compounded versions is being restricted. When people stop taking GLP-1s, research shows they tend to regain a large amount of weight within a year. Based on the patterns documented in this study, that means a wave of weight regain could be coming, and with it, a likely wave of social judgment.
The researchers also explored whether people made assumptions about the fictional person’s wealth or social standing based on GLP-1 use. They found no differences, though the researchers note this may be because the study descriptions didn’t mention medication costs and participants may not have known how expensive these drugs are. In the first study, participants who scored high on measures of weight bias, particularly those with low empathy toward people with obesity or strong beliefs that people are responsible for their own weight, were especially harsh in their judgments of the GLP-1 user compared to the dieter.
A trap runs through all of these findings. Staying at a higher weight means enduring well-documented weight stigma. Losing weight with a GLP-1 medication invites a different kind of judgment, one rooted in the perception that the person took a shortcut. And regaining weight after stopping the drug adds yet another layer of negative evaluation. At no point in this cycle does the GLP-1 user escape social penalty. The data suggest that the method of weight loss appears to shape how people are judged, independent of whether the weight actually came off, revealing deep cultural biases about discipline and willpower.
As these medications continue to grow in popularity, efforts to reduce stigma around their use aren’t just nice to have. They’re necessary. Public health campaigns, training for healthcare professionals and educational resources for patients will all be needed to push back against the bias that follows people at every stage of weight management. Right now, the science indicates the social deck is stacked against them no matter what they do.
Disclaimer: The findings in this article are based on two online experiments in which participants evaluated fictional scenarios, not real people. Results reflect perceived social judgments in a controlled research setting and may not capture the full range of attitudes people encounter in everyday life. The study samples skewed white, younger, and higher-income, which limits how broadly the findings apply. This article is for informational purposes only.
Paper Notes
Limitations
The researchers acknowledge several limitations. Both studies relied on participants evaluating a fictional person based on a written description, which may have felt artificial. In everyday life, people typically don’t have direct access to others’ weight history or medication use unless that information is shared. The study samples were mostly white, tended to be younger, and had relatively high income and educational attainment, which limits how broadly the findings can be applied. The fictional person’s gender was intentionally left unspecified, and future work would benefit from varying the target’s gender, race/ethnicity, prior weight loss attempts and cost paid for medication. The researchers also note that because the study descriptions did not mention GLP-1 costs, participants may not have factored medication expense into their judgments, which could explain why no differences were found in perceived social standing. Finally, many real-world GLP-1 users also make lifestyle changes alongside medication use, and the studies did not explore whether mentioning diet and exercise efforts at the same time could soften the stigma.
Funding and Disclosures
This research was funded by NIH R01 DK128575, NIH R01 HL158555, and NSF BCS 2220295. The authors declared no competing interests. The work was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, and the Institutional Review Board at the University of California, Los Angeles approved all study procedures. Study hypotheses and analytic plans were pre-registered via the Open Science Framework prior to data collection.
Publication Details
Title: An experimental investigation of the stigmatization of weight loss and regain from GLP-1 receptor agonist use and cessation | Authors: Erin C. Standen (Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University; Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Mayo Clinic), Sean M. Phelan (Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Mayo Clinic; Division of Health Care Delivery Research, Mayo Clinic), and A. Janet Tomiyama (Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles) | Journal: International Journal of Obesity | DOI: 10.1038/s41366-026-02061-y | Data and Materials DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/7FM2R
